Driving Shell forward is VP Upstream President Steve Phimister who, by coincidence, was born the same year as Shell’s UKCS odyssey began 50 years ago.

The super-major has lived through boom times followed by harsh periods when commodity prices were in the basement and, from the late 1990s, speculation grew as to whether such companies had a future in the North Sea.read more

Shell has been fined £60,000 after a technician was severely injured by a gas cylinder on a North Sea platform.

The incident in November 2014 took place on the Brent Delta installation when a gas cylinder unexpectedly discharged, causing projectiles to strike a worker.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard today that technicians were required to replace a gas cylinder within a system used to extinguish fires on November 9, 2014.

One technician rolled what he thought was an empty cylinder and took off a protective cap, however the cylinder was in fact fully charged which caused an uncontrolled release of gas and a loud bang – resulting in the technician dropping the cylinder which caused the valve to shear, with projectiles severely injuring a second technician.read more

Chief executive of Shell, Ben Van Beurden, has reportedly said today that he believes the 2040 UK ban on petroleum and diesel car sales should be brought forward.

In response to a question from an audience member at the Powering Progress Together event in London, Mr Van Beurden reportedly said that while “everyone was going to have to move quickly, the UK ought to move more quickly than most” and that it was “sensible” that the government move the 2040 target forward.

Mr Van Beurden was speaking at the event on the eve of the company’s Shell Eco Marathon to outline his firm’s commitment to a “cleaner future, transport and beyond”.read more

Nigeria’s oil wells may be flowing again, but the country’s largest operator says attacks continue to put a brake on output.

“Security in parts of the Niger delta remains a major concern with persisting incidents of criminality, kidnapping and vandalism as well as onshore and offshore piracy,” said Igo Weli, general manager for external relations at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s local unit. The warning underlines the enduring threat of attacks even as production recovers from a major militant campaign in 2016. Shell declared force majeure on Bonny Light crude shipments last month following pipeline leaks, while loadings of Forcados exports were also delayed. Weli didn’t specifically link those incidents to his comments on vandalism. FULL ARTICLEread more

Shell confirms award of 39 North Sea exploration blocks

Oil giant Shell today confirmed it had acquired 39 North Sea exploration blocks as a part of the 30th Offshore Licencing Round.

In a statement, Shell said that the 39 blocks break down as 11 operated and 28 non-operated blocks within the North Sea.

Data from the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) shows that Shell has acquired two operational blocks within the west of Shetland, five within the Central North Sea (North) and further four within the Central North Sea (South).

A Shell spokesperson said “Shell UK can confirm that on 23 May 2018, we were awarded 39 exploration blocks, 11 operated and 28 non-operated, by the UK Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) in the 30th UK Licensing Round. The acreage was applied for on 21 November.”read more

Shell and BP may have to face down shareholder opposition to their chief executives’ pay packets at their annual general meetings next week.

And for the third year in a row, Shell investors will vote on a resolution asking the company to set clear goals for meeting climate change targets.

Recommendations by the Institutional Shareholders Services (ISS) once again focus heavily on the pay of top executives at the energy giant, with ISS raising concerns over the 80% rate of bonus delivered to the CEO of Shell despite only reaching 70% on sustainable development targets.

Similarly, investors advisory firm Pensions and Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) continued to caution shareholders against sanctioning BP chief executive Bob Dudley’s remuneration package, which it called “excessive” in 2017 as it soared by more than £1 million to £9.5m.read more

Two oil majors have struck a deal with Oman over the development of natural gas resources in the Middle Eastern state.

Total and Shell, as operator, will develop several natural gas discoveries located in the Greater Barik area on onshore Block 6 with respective shares of 25% and 75%. They aim to produce of around 500million cubic feet of gas per day, rising to 1billion at a later stage. Total will use its share to develop a regional hub for supplying LNG as a fuel to marine vessels. Arnaud Breuillac, president, exploration and production at Total, said: “We are pleased to sign this MoU with the Sultanate of Oman that will give us access to new gas resources and the opportunity to develop an integrated gas project. FULL ARTICLEread more

Sinead Lynch, UK country chair for Shell, said yesterday that the oil giant knows that it “needs to change” in the coming energy transition, and “that is what Shell is going to do”.

As part of a panel at the All-Energy conference in Glasgow, Ms Lynch said that Shell was part of a movement within the industry which was recognising the energy transition and that Shell was “beginning that change”. She said: “Shell has a deep history and deep roots across Scotland, in our upstream business where we have been investing in and producing from the North Sea for 50 years. But also in our downstream business where we have been producing a number of downstream products to our customers here for almost a 100 years, and that’s a range of products that’s beginning to change. FULL ARTICLEread more

Oil giant Shell said today that it will continue to “sell the oil and gas that society needs” but is also positioning itself to transition further into low-carbon energy when it “makes commercial sense”.

Shell’s Energy Transition Report outlines the firm’s continued commitment to oil exploration while setting out its strategy for the future changes in the energy sector. The oil company said that it estimates that 80% of its current proven oil reserves “will be produced” by 2030, and only expects to see 20% production after that time. In today’s report, Shell said outlined that it will look to invest up to £3.5billion in conventional oil and gas and the same amount again in oil products, while also investing up to £1.4billion in new renewable energies. FULL ARTICLEread more

The firm also drew attention to a number of safety incidents in 2017 which it is working to address and provide support to victims for, including oil spills and theft in Nigeria, earthquakes in Groningen and a road tanker disaster in Pakistan.

A consortium including energy giant Shell has won a multi-million pound government grant to improve use of hydrogen vehicles in the UK.

The Department for Transport has awarded £8.8million in funding, with £4.3million going to clean energy firm ITM Power. It will use the funds to create four new hydrogen refuelling stations in the UK, and upgrade five existing ones to help support a larger fleet of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. ITM Power is joined by Shell, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai in the consortium. The government funding will be also be used to create nearly 200 clean energy vehicles which will be used by taxi drivers and the police. FULL ARTICLEread more

Students from the University of Aberdeen are designing a hydrogen-fuelled car as they prepare to compete against teams from around the world in Shell’s Eco-marathon.

The challenge sees students design, build and test energy-efficient cars to see which vehicle can go furthest with the least fuel. Aberdeen’s Team ProtoAU has made it through several qualifying stages and will compete in the finals in London in July. Their 20-strong group of engineering and business students will now work on building a car to compete in the prototype class, which is being constructed in the university’s Fraser Noble building, home to the School of Engineering. FULL ARTICLEread more

Planned production cuts to the Europe’s largest gas field is to cost the Dutch state-run Enrgie Beheer Nederlands $5billion over the life of the field as well as cause the continent to look elsewhere for supply, according to analysts Wood Mackenzie. Groningen has been a major global asset for operators Shell, ExxonMobil and Energie Beheer Nederlands. There have been a series of powerful earthquakes in recent years around the Groningen field brought on by gas mining, with a tremor last month registering 3.4 magnitude – the most powerful to hit since 2012. FULL ARTICLEread more

Shell is performing “extremely well” at a time when Brent crude is at its highest price for three years, the oil giant’s upcoming fourth quarter results will show. The Anglo-Dutch major is in its strongest position for many years in terms of its cash generation thanks to its upstream and LNG businesses, analysts said. RBC Capital Markets anticipates Shell’s fourth-quarter adjusted net income will more than double year-on-year. The company recorded adjusted earnings of £1.3billion in Q4 2016.read more

"Equal opportunity means that all people will be treated equally or similarly and not disadvantaged by prejudices or bias. This means that the best person for a job or a promotion is the person who earns that position based on qualifications, experience and knowledge. Workplace diversity values everyone's differences."

Apparently, with Shell HR this applies even if convicted of aggravated child sex offences on multiple counts with an appearance on the Sex Offenders Register.

It does make the workplace uncomfortable for everyone who has contact with him. On the other hand, he has to work somewhere or otherwise conviction would amount to a life sentence for repellent acts carried out 14 years ago.

Is it a praiseworthy policy or an act of folly to hire and promote such individuals? Or an act of negligence if HR pleads ignorance of his past criminal history? The latter seems unlikely bearing in mind that his past is common knowledge among colleagues and apparently, even suppliers.

John Donovan: RECEIVED FROM A SHELL INSIDER SOURCE

"INTEGRITY OF LEADERSHIP" ...as a Shell staff member, I am always concerned about the integrity of the leadership team at any level. ...there is a recently promoted individual in a key leadership role. Staff are not happy working for this person as he is a registered sex offender since 2004 for aggravated sexual assault against a child. xxxxxxx website has his full profile including yearly pictures. All verifiable in the public domain. ...but for some reason management are turning a blind eye. It says a lot for the company! His conviction lists his full name as.............. You can confirm the Shell link via xxx. He works for Shell xxxxxx. Staff are appalled that he has now promoted in a key leadership role working with suppliers like xxxxxxx to improve the quality of services provided to Shell. Some suppliers are now also beginning to learn his history and quietly voicing surprise." (Some of the above information has been redacted by John Donovan. The name of the relevant individual in a Shell leadership role has been verified from court records and social media)

Bonus Group: Exshellman speaks of 'The BG merger for many was a final nail in the coffin, some of the hand picked people for the new club don't know their arse from their elbows.' This could not be more appropriate than for the Brasil Asset which is probably currently plotting its next fraud against Petrobras. These miscreants should be flushed out of the system, but are probably biding their time and counting their share options waiting for them to vest, and also waiting for their next bonus to be announced before considering jumping ship. They make little to no valid contribution to the Asset. Let's hope that their commutes are long and arduous, though most of them have probably weaselled a 'working from home' option, from where they do little work and can make endless cappuccinos at the shareholders expense!

Bonus Group: That well known Schlumberger ex-Chief with 'operations experience', Andrew Gould (Mr Corridor having seen fit to distance himself from the BG Group debacle) is now in the news as Chairman of a Houston based outfit called Sentinel, a blank-check company . The latter having struck lucky with a pipeline company called Strike in a $854MM deal. “If I take all my experience in the oilfield, I don’t think I see any other service segment which has been so outsourced as this one,” said Gould. Strike’s main focus will remain pipeline maintenance.
The deal comes less than a year after Sentinel raised $345 million in an initial public offering. The company, which up until now had no assets, was set up as a so-called special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.
Gould is returning to public life after helping orchestrate the sale of the failed BG Group to Shell for $54 billion in 2016. Let's hope that there is a knighthood in it for him!

Bogus Group: The release of the Shell Brent PSMR is shocking testimony of the culture these pathetic incompetents administered without challenge. When Shell was generating huge revenue for the treasury, the regulator, even government ministers had their heads in the sand and a lack of accountability meant they could move on to spread their malignance. Finlayson took his “talents” to BG, another company ruined by pathetic incompetents with the same DNA.

Brinded joined Network Rail who appointed Mark Carne, another Shell/BG stray, described in one tabloid as the “bungling rail chief”. It’s ironic he now talks about (Rail Engineer 27.09.18) joining from Shell “part of an industry with a strong safety culture” and being motivated by big businesses, which are “safety-critical”, with more waffle about safety leadership and safety performance.

Will someone ever be able to “drain the British swamp” of these conceited executives who disingenuously hide behind the “safety and good old business principle banners”, to further their greed and lust for power at whatever cost.

RETIRED OIM: Bill, now the full horror of your findings during the Expro audit have been made available via Johns’ web site I wonder what kind of reaction, if any, will be generated. In retrospect and with hindsight, publishing earlier might have sealed Brinded’s demise sooner and he would never have risen to an apparent level of “the untouchable”.

The Italians hopefully will ensure he will be disgraced never to be any where near a responsible position again.

Sad to think the MF will be drawing several million £ pounds a year in pension rights as well as the vast number of Shell shares he was allocated as a direct result of his dictatorial years of apparent criminal behaviour. Just one of people who turned Shell from a well respected Company who treated Staff as a precious asset to be nurtured rather than be coerced and then dumped at the first opportunity.

exshellman: After the Shell BG merger completed in 2016 , a lot of really good people lost their jobs , it was handled terribly by the HR dept and the so called 'General Managers' culled some of the best experts they had ...in less than a year of the redundancies Shell were struggling and now with the lack of expertise...they have had to take in contractors to fill staff positions ..within a year of the redundancies ... they could be liable if people took this issue up.. Also Shell were looking at hiring back some old boy network ...who are now pensioners to come back in as managers to help out with the problems ..LOL . they have so much dead wood staff on their books and the company is ran like a club. I'm glad to be away from the farce that Shell became , the malaise started around about 2004 when they began to lose the plot. The BG merger for many was a final nail in the coffin, some of the hand picked people for the new club don't know their arse from their elbows. The only way Shell actually make profits is when the oil price goes high... when Brent is low they can't compete within their quartile or peer groups. I'll keep abreast here on the blog

Contributor to this blog: I’ve just come across an article "Tips & Insights: A World-class Combination" about the proposed combination of Royal Dutch Shell, one of the largest companies in the world and 'best known for its gasoline stations' and BG Group, a natural gas specialist.

The article centres on Sarah Franklin, (BG chief counsel, with a list of responsibilities, including health and safety after her name), who would be BG’s legal lead for integration planning.

In the article she explains that emotional intelligence was pivotal to success. I find this strange, as emotional intelligence wasn’t an attribute in BG Group. Could this be integration jargon?

Franklin has apparently added other governance matters, including human rights and whistleblowing investigations to her legal skill set. She set up BG’s first whistleblowing program.

She has inherited a new team that focuses on complex safety and environmental issues. As noted in the article, in Shell Legal, many lawyers advise on safety and environmental matters but it didn’t have a global core of experts.

If you are a Shell employee, be extremely cautious about the content of the two preceding paragraphs. If you have concerns, especially those with a safety connotation and you wish to engage with her……….beware.

I’m sure other revelations will eventually surface.

Bogus Group: I listened to the then BG Group chief executive drool over the Petrobras ‘partnership’ at his award speech for GB Personality of the Year by the Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in 2013 (https://youtu.be/pfknsxjT2Rw). He described many extraordinary moments during this partnership, a relationship that had flourished with ‘mutual trust and respect and super giant discoveries’, which was going from strength to strength. He was looking to a very long future with many more Eureka moments for BG and its partners in the years and decades to come.
So why would they want to put such ‘jewel’ in the Shell crown and who was responsible for this? At that time did anyone envisage the fall from grace in the coming months and years? Since then there has been turmoil in both companies, what could possibly have gone wrong.
Insiders will know the answer.

Bonus Group: Andrew Gould, Chairman of the disgraced BG Group, who allegedly was seeking a knighthood by joining the company has gone to ground. Given his contractor mind set coupled with his training as an accountant does not bode well for the industry. His LinkedIn profile shows that he is still Chairman of BG Group, as well as being a Board Member (Non Executive!) of Saudi Aramco. Given that Saudi Aramco are going to drop their IPO, this could well leave 'Mr Corridor' twiddling his thumbs and wondering how he can manoeuvre back into a position where he can achieve his ambition of being knighted.

John Donovan’s ebooks

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